Draft:Adam Berenz

Adam Berenc (born 19 September 1898 in Apatin, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary † 21 October 1968) was a Roman Catholic clergyman, journalist and resistance activist in the Batschka, Yugoslavia before and after the National Socialist era.

Early and Spiritual career

Adam Berenz's father Adam was a basket weaver. Berenz attended elementary school in Apatin with headmaster teacher Josef Kleiner. He completed his grammar school with Jesuit brothers in Kalocsa, and between 1918 and 1921 he studied theology at the Archbishop's Lyceum there.

Berenz worked temporarily as a chaplain in Bačka Palanka (German Plankenburg) and Mladenovo (German Bukin). In September 1922 he moved to Nova Gajdobra (German: Wekerledorf) as an administrator. Later he worked as a chaplain in Kupusina, Stanišić (German Donauwachenheim or Stanischitsch) and Apatin. In 1932 he worked as a chaplain in Kljajićevo (german Kernei), then again in Apatin, where he was also vicar of the Church of the Sacred Heart. Here he was responsible for pastoral care, retreats for the preparatory institute in Vrbas (german Werbass), lectures at the retreats for Catholic German girls in Bačka Palanka, Apatin and Bácsalmás (german: Heimerskirchen), as well as ideological educational lectures in Čonoplja (german Tschonopel). For one year he was president of the Catholic Fishermen's Association in Apatin.

Berenz gave sermons at the settlement ceremonies of Germans/Shwova in Čonoplja, Srpski Miletić (German Berauersheim) and Ratkovo (German Parabutsch). For several years he also gave the festive sermons at the pilgrimages in Doroslovo. In 1933, Berenz was appointed chaplain at the main church in Apatin and parochial vicar of the Sacred Heart Church in Apatin. He led the vicariate until 1 May 1944. He then took over the main parish of Apatin as administrator

Resistance to the Nazi regime

In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and especially in the western Bačka, the propagation of the "new German worldview" by the National Socialist-oriented innovators (also the renewal movement) triggered a strong Catholic counter-movement among the Yugoslav Germans/Shwova. Its theological-political spokesman was the resistance activist[5] Adam Berenz, who fought the National Socialist ideology in his weekly newspaper "Die Donau" from 1935 until March 1944. As early as 1942, Berenz warned of an imminent expulsion and collective expulsion of the Danube Swabians/ Shwova. The newspaper documenting the resistance movement was a "mouthpiece of the Nazi opponents" and was banned in 1944 at the instigation of the German Reich by the fascist Hungarian occupation authorities, to whom the Batschka was under control between 1941 and 1944. The last circulation before the paper was discontinued was 6100 copies.

The word "traitor to the people" was painted on his front door with oil paint. The wall of the vicarage was scratched with swastikas and mocking caricatures. In its issue of 21 February 1937, Berenz titled the organ of the innovators/Erneuerers, "Die Wespe", "van Dick" because of their physique. Already in the first issue of the paper, Berenz was sharply attacked. [8] After Hungary had been occupied by the German military on March 16, 1944, Berenz was arrested by the Gestapo on May 22, 1944 at 9:30 p.m. as the editor in charge of the "Danube". He was taken to Sombor and locked in a Hungarian prison cell. From here he was transferred to the Gestapo prison in Szeged a week later. After his conviction as a "resistance fighter against National Socialism", he was imprisoned in the Bačka Topola concentration camp. The Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kalocsa-Kecskemét, József Grősz, spoke on behalf of Berenz to the Hungarian Minister of the Interior and received permission to release Berenz from the camp and take him to Kalocsa. On 23 May, Grősz brought Berenz to Kalocsa by car.

After the end of the Second World War in Yugoslavia, Berenz protested against the "collective guilt of the Danube Swabians", and it is true that large parts of the ethnic German population(Shwova) in the country were expropriated and expelled. In 1957, Adam Berenz was appointed preacher in the cathedral of Kalocsa. He joined the Franciscan order. Berenz died alone on October 21, 1968 and was buried in a crypt in Kalocsa. Although there is no evidence that he was one of the editors of Pope Pius XI encyclical 'Mit brennender Sorge' or 'the Unity of Humanity' he spread information about both encyclicals widely in 'Die Donau' before he was arrested by the Gestapo under the fascist Hungarians.

Quote

Adam Berenz wrote about the founding of the "Die Donau":

When, after the seizure of power by the National Socialists in the German Reich, the neo-pagan worldview was openly propagated among the Swabian/Shwovish people, first in secret (especially in holiday camps), and later by the so-called 'renewal movement'/Erneuerers through its fighting paper 'Volksruf', the urgent necessity became increasingly clear that a press organ – no matter how modest – should be founded, which, taking into account the special mentality of the Germans/Shwova in the Batschka and the Banat, particularly aware of their ideological concerns. This is how the Catholic weekly newspaper 'Die Donau' came into being. This was followed by almost ten years of ideological enlightenment of Germanness in the Batschka and the Banat and a bitter, uncompromising struggle between the representatives of National Socialist neo-paganism and the representatives of the Catholic camp. The fascist Hungarian Stojay government put an abrupt end to this struggle in April 1944 by banning the publication of 'Die Donau'.

During the entire period of struggle, 'Die Donau' never lost its unconditional loyalty to its ancestral nationality, to its mother tongue, and had in mind its participation in German cultural work. Only they live in the spirit of the ancestors, only they bring honor to their memory, only they secure a peaceful life for the local Germans/Shwova in the space that our ancestors have created, which educates and wants to preserve our local Germanness not only German, but also thoroughly Catholic and faithful to the homeland and fatherland.

References

– Adam Berenz Citizens' Association "Adam Berenz" The German association "Adam Berenz" Apatin represents the German minority in the municipality of Apatin and sees itself as the guardian of Berenz's legacy. The rectory, which has been converted into a cultural centre, also houses his personal belongings, books and volumes of the magazine "Donau". The association has its own building, which the Catholic Church makes available to the association, as well as a large library with a large stock of church records.